[jelt2359]

  I appreciate the comparison also.  The short list for me was down for the CT-500, 1964 V6 and the Aclair RSM. A week ago I pulled the trigger on the CT-500.  Ultimately it was Muziq's comments along with jelt2359 review and Deviltooth's review at the beginning of this post that pushed me to the 500's.  It's been said many times but this head-fi board really is a wonderful resource.

Fantastic IEM. Don't think you'll be disappointed. I got my own pair coming in as well now, it will be in Fit for a Bat 2

 

[PaulHoy]

In case anyone is interested here is a little praise for CTM for fast order turnaround.  CTM let me know they received my impressions on June 4 and today I was notified that the finished CT-500's shipped.  My order was in their hands for only about 11-12 business days which is much faster than the promised 4-5 week manufacture time.  Mine was not a rush order and I'm thrilled to be getting them a few weeks earlier than expected.

 

[Deviltooth]

  In case anyone is interested here is a little praise for CTM for fast order turnaround.  CTM let me know they received my impressions on June 4 and today I was notified that the finished CT-500's shipped.  My order was in their hands for only about 11-12 business days which is much faster than the promised 4-5 week manufacture time.  Mine was not a rush order and I'm thrilled to be getting them a few weeks earlier than expected.

I liked how easy it was to talk to Cesar when I ordered mine.  He answered all of my questions (and wow was I a CIEM newbie) patiently.  Service was quick and efficient.
 
When it comes to CIEMs customer service is absolutely vital.  I had positive experiences with Clear Tunes, Custom Art and JH Audio (to a slightly lesser extent).  On the other side of the coin Unique Melody made me never want to order a CIEM again.  Had they been my first experience I would have stuck with universals.

 

[PaulHoy]

I can't speak to their customer service since I never called or dealt with anyone specifically. I just placed the order online then sent in impressions with a printout of the order.  They sent one email confirming the order, one confirming receipt of the impressions and one letting me know they were shipping.  Would it have been nice to have a customer log in area where I could see the progress of the build like 1964? Sure, but really that's not that critical and given how quickly they filled the order I have absolutely no complaints. 

 

[Problem]

Just took ownership of a new CT500 couple days ago and must definitely say the sound as I remembered while demoing them were simply fantastic and with the custom version, it still holds true to what I remembered which was great imaging and soundstaging while retaining having a fairly natural mids presentation.
 
Some pictures I took couple days ago comparing it with the UE18.
 
Only wished that CTM had made the insertion deeper to give a nice and proper seal but this is not the first CIEM manufacturer that has a fairly short insertion.
 

 

 

 

[Libertad]

congratulations!

 

 

[JazzGroover]

The insertion matches the mold that you sent to them. If you want longer insertion then send a mold that goes deeper into the canal. The length of mine is exactly as my molds were. One of my molds was 2mm longer than the other. Guess what, my IEM is 2mm longer on that ear.

 

[Deviltooth]

The insertion matches the mold that you sent to them. If you want longer insertion then send a mold that goes deeper into the canal. The length of mine is exactly as my molds were. One of my molds was 2mm longer than the other. Guess what, my IEM is 2mm longer on that ear.

It's dependent upon the company and sometimes what you ask for.  If you want a deeper fit (a musician's fit) you can usually ask for it and many CIEM companies will accommodate you.  I don't know Clear Tune's policy as they provided my first CIEMs before I understood fitting details.  My CT-500 is roughly the same depth as my JH13pro.

 

[Sentinel92]

Aaaarrrrrgh cant wait for mine. Stuck at MS for a week now. Hopefully my buddy can bring it over by monday.

 

[284033]

Aaaarrrrrgh cant wait for mine. Stuck at MS for a week now. Hopefully my buddy can bring it over by monday.

I am very sure you will be very happy with them.

 

[PaulHoy]

UPS delivered my CT-500 monitors yesterday. I've managed to squeeze in a couple of hours of listening and without a doubt these sound fantastic. Here are my initial thoughts and impressions:[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8)][/color]
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SOUND: Excellent! This is the main reason I bought these and they are really delivering. After a brief A-B comparison with my SE425's it was clear how much better these sound. They are more sensitive so produce slightly more output at equal volume settings. When the perceived output is matched the CT500's provide more clarity, more low end and an overall richer sound. Across the board they just sound better. BUT the improvement is not as dramatic as I was expecting. I imagine limited improvement is probably due to a combination of the following:[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8)][/color]
a) Unrealistic expectations on how much better a high end ciem will sound, after all the se425's are good monitors too, just not as good. Diminishing returns as you get into the high end monitors.[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8)][/color]
b) My sources used leave some room for improvement. I played 320 bitrate MP3 files straight out of an HP laptop, with Beats enabled, and also the similar files out of a Nexus 5 and [color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8)][/color]
c) Poor, or rather, inexperience listening skills on my part. I have no doubt that you guys that do comparisons all the time hear variations and differences that I miss. Much like a wine sommelier can taste and appreciate subtle differences from one wine to the next so to is the case with the in ear monitors.
This is not a complaint and I'm happy with their sound and for the improvement over the SE425's I just expected a more dramatic difference.[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8)][/color]
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BUILD: The monitor build quality seems excellent. Being my first set of ciem I don't have much to compare with but the clear shells are flawless and the drivers all look well placed and secure inside. The cable I can't say the same about. It feels and looks cheap, especially the plastic Y connection and the 90 degree jack/plug. My sub $20 MEElectronics plug is more substantial. I don't think this has any impact on the sound quality and it's not a big deal for me just a small disappointment given the price of these . Maybe this is one of the ways CTM is able to offer this quality CIEM at below most of their competitors.[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8)][/color]
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SIZE: The size is going to take some getting used to. I knew they would be larger than the universals but didn't realize they'd stick out quite so much. I'm sure this is perfectly normal just not what I'm used to...at least not yet. The cable connection to the monitor shell is excellent and very tight. I like that it's recessed into the shell.[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8)][/color]
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FIT: Fit is perfect on the right ear but the left ear gets a hot spot at the front of the inferior crus of the antihelix just above the Superior concha. Insertion is a breeze and not having to mess with compressing the foam tips is wonderful and super fast. I'm going to play with the fit and hopefully a slight rotation one way or the other will remedy the sore spot. If not, the left side will go back for a refit.[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8)][/color]
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As mentioned by Head-Fi'er "Problem" the part that inserts into the ear canal are not very deep on either side. The audiologist I went to did two sets of molds and both were almost identical. One set was sent to CTM and the other set of molds were sent to Microsonic for a set of 15db attenuation earplugs. The ear canal insertions in the earplugs are probably at least 4mm longer than either side of the CT-500 insertions. I took a picture of the molds and CTM definitely reduced the length of the ear insertion. This does not seem to be impacting quality and this overall reduction in length may have been intentional to achieve the best sound or fit or both. Does having 3 bore holes limit the length of the insertion? The insertion part of the monitor on both sides are very comfortable and I'm getting a good seal so this short insertion doesn't seem to impact the audio quality or the seal. It does possibly reduce the isolation however and I'm one who really likes a lot of isolation. It's disappointing that these don't attenuate more but I also realize it might have nothing to do with the insertion length. I have my 15db earplugs for comparison and the CT-500's cut slightly more outside sound than the 15db earplugs. My best estimate is that the CTM's are cutting out somewhere in the low 20's db range. Sadly they are nowhere close to the isolation provided by the Shure monitors with foam tips. [color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8)][/color]
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I'm going to live with these for a week or so and see how they perform day to day. If the hot spot doesn't go away I'll send them back for a refit. I'm also going to reach out to CTM also to ask about the insertion length and if the that is a conscience design decision on their part. Browsing through their instagram feed I see a pretty big mix so it may be been something specific to my ear shape.
 
Here are a few snapshots:
 

 

 

 

 

[Problem]

   

Firstly, congratulations on a new brand new set of CIEMs.
 
For the insertion it varies from manufacturers from my understanding as I've seen some brands like Noble & Spiral Ears going pretty deep jelt2359 's piece. For me I might be sending back to CTM for a refit as the right piece appears to be slightly loose.
 
After listening to listening for almost a week, I must definitely the CT500 is one of the most underrated product/model in the market for both in price & performance and this is coming as I used to previously own a JH16 and now a UE18.
 
For a wider genre selection, the CT500 is definitely the most genre friendly to almost anything though it appears to excel particularly in the imaging, sound stage and linear mids presentation, something I didn't particularly get in the UE18 and JH 16.

 

[PaulHoy]

Now that I've enjoyed the CT-500's for almost 2 weeks a new AB comparison with the Shure's has reveled how large the difference really is. Bass, midrange, top end, space, fit, etc...it's all far far better with the CTM monitors.  My initial impressions posted here were premature; especially my comment that when compared with the SE425's there was only a minimal improvement in overall quality.  The difference is significant.
 
Sadly the left ear piece is going back for a refit.  I just couldn't wear it for more than about 10 minutes with out pain and after talking with CTM on the phone they seem to think it will be an easy fix.  I'll share my refit experience once they come back.

 

[PaulHoy]

Latest update:  The refit was a success and apparently it was an easy fix.  The left monitor was shipped back by CTM 24 hours after they received it and the soreness on the left side is now gone.  I'm extremely happy with these and have really come to love the sound and fit.  My SE425's are up on Ebay and looking forward to many years of enjoyment out of the CT-500's.

 

[Deviltooth]

  Latest update:  The refit was a success and apparently it was an easy fix.  The left monitor was shipped back by CTM 24 hours after they received it and the soreness on the left side is now gone.  I'm extremely happy with these and have really come to love the sound and fit.  My SE425's are up on Ebay and looking forward to many years of enjoyment out of the CT-500's.

Congratulations.  Even though I've picked up a lot of C/IEMs since my CT-500 it still stands as an amazing earphone capable of faithfully transmitting the soul of the music.
 
P.S. I have a Flare R2A (flavour of the month) and despite some of the hype it does not measure up to the CT-500.